Faculty and students in the Educational Leadership and Administration (ELA) Program presented research and scholarship at the annual University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) conference, held November 20–22 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Dr. Christine Nganga facilitated a symposium titled, “Engaging in Pedagogies of Resistance and Disruption in Urban School Leadership Preparation,” bringing together perspectives on how leadership preparation programs can address issues of equity and challenge traditional approaches to educational leadership.
Dr. Rebecca Thessin presented research co-authored with Dr. Abe Tekleselassie, alumnus Dr. Shaun Shepard, Dr. Jennifer Clayton and Dr. Leslie Trimmer. Their paper, “An Examination of Candidate Learning Experiences in an Equity-Centered Leadership Program Partnership,” examined student experiences within a leadership preparation partnership centered on equity.
Dr. Thessin also participated in two invited panels. The first, organized by the Wallace Foundation, was the “UCEA-Wallace Foundation Symposium on Educational Leadership Relationships Matter: Improving Principal Preparation through Equity-Focused District Partnerships.” She also participated in “Transforming the Academic Core toward Equity: Cross-Context Illustrations of Principal Preparation Program Redesign,” which explored approaches to redesigning principal preparation programs with equity at the center.
ELA doctoral student Denise Soukup also represented the program at the Graduate Student Symposium, where she presented work completed to date on her doctoral dissertation, “Leadership of STEM Programming Supporting Underrepresented Students.”
Together, the presentations highlighted the ELA Program’s contributions to research and practice in educational leadership, with a particular focus on equity-centered leadership preparation, partnerships and opportunities for underrepresented students.